The Perfect Organism
by Alpha993
Summary: A remote Weyland-Yutani research facility comes into possession of several eggs belonging to the dangerous species: Xenomorph XX121. Their breeding programs go according to plan, but the underestimation of the Xenomorph's intelligence and one scientist's insatiable obsession over the species doomed the facility's inhabitants to a fate seldom found even in the worst of nightmares.
1. Prologue

**PROLOGUE**

 **"Its biological perfection is matched only by its hostility. I admire its purity. A survivor… unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality."**

 **\- Ash, Science Officer, USCSS Nostromo**

* * *

The floodlights turned on one by one.

Their blue beams of light cut through the dust kicked up by the passing supply convoy, gradually revealing the massive corporate logo plastered on the side of the facility's entrance – A large yellow and grey figure flanked by the words _Weyland-Yutani_ and the ever-present motto: _"building better worlds"_.

A stark figure in a glistening white lab coat stood next to one of the lights, staring up at The Company's symbol, his hands slightly in his pockets. He adjusted his glasses and turned towards the many gray trucks, all carrying seemingly monolithic containers on their flatbeds as they stopped before the facility's immense blast-door. He started towards the entrance as he pulled a small tablet out of one of the many compartments in his coat, looking towards his device before stopping dead in his tracks. The man slowly lifted his head towards one of the containers and contemplated the dangers held within – the large, black container was plastered with innumerable signs highlighting the same warning: _Danger - Biohazard_.

The man in the coat was Dr. Thomas Patterson, a senior research official at Weyland-Yutani's bio-weapons division, a cold and oftentimes neurotic man in his mid-forties who hid a passion for his work under layers of apathy towards his colleagues. He never seemed to get along with the rest of the scientists in the facility as he was viewed by them as an overly obsessive and sometimes misguided individual; on the other hand, he saw his colleagues as inept and underserving of their prestigious work in The Company. Patterson's tablet offered him the choice of whether or not to clear the cargo for entrance into the facility, which after a moment's hesitation, he did indeed clear, allowing the massive blast-door to part open and permitting the convoy to proceed inside.

Patterson followed and began closing the door as soon as the last truck had made its way inside. He took a last look outside before the door sealed itself shut, shrouding the large hangar-like interior in darkness. In a split-second, hundreds of white lights began to turn themselves on, revealing the pristine and orderly environment characteristic of a Weyland-Yutani facility. Patterson hated this dull and sterile style that WY engineers were so keen on. The sterility of the place always reminded him of disease, especially those of the mind, probably because of its similarity to mental institutions. A wave of uneasiness swept over him but he quickly brushed it off, he adjusted his glasses again and immediately stormed off into a side corridor that led towards his office in the bio-research wing.

Two guards armed with black M41A Pulse Rifles were observing Patterson from a catwalk, far above the facility floor. One of them had a wide grin on his face as he saw Patterson hurriedly rush into the corridor, "Hey Joe, what do you think that guy's up to now?" He asked the other guard.

"Can't say for sure Evan, he seems to be in charge of that shipment though. He's got the clearance codes and stuff."

"He's in some awful hurry, you'd think he'd have a heart attack by now from how tense he seems all the time." Evan said with a chuckle.

Joe leaned against the catwalk's railing and let out a sigh, "Y'know, it's none of our business what they do in those labs, they don't pay nearly enough for us to care."

Evan's grin turned to worry, "Hey, those containers always have biohazard warnings all over them, what if they mess up with containment of whatever virus they have in there? Pay or no pay, we get affected too."

Joe shrugged and shook his head slowly, "I don't know man, it is what it is. I'd rather be working for Weyland than for Seegson any day though. You heard about what happened at Sevastopol station?" He asked.

Sevastopol was a large mining station in orbit around KG-348 built by Lorenz SysTech to serve as a freeport and potential mining station to harvest the rich mineral resources found in the gas-giant. Lorenz SysTech built it with the belief that the station's fortunes would be secure thanks to the Sol-Thedus flight path which would have brought many mining and cargo vessels to do business with the station. However, the station began to enter a long decline as the Sol-Thedus flight path was redirected thanks to economic fluctuations between the colonies, leaving the station without business and with a fluctuating trade influx. The station was eventually sold to Seegson who believed they could revitalize the station as a cosmopolitan beacon in the Zeta Reticuli Sector. Failures in competition with companies such as Weyland-Yutani led to further decline after a decade of prosperity under Seegson. Eventually, the station was put on the market once again by Seegson in order to recoup their losses, but no corporate entity showed any interest. Seegson executives, having given up on the station, decided to begin the decommissioning process which eventually led to several catastrophic failures on board, resulting in the once pristine mining station plunging into KG-348's atmosphere, never to be heard from again.

"Yeah, I heard the station literally fell from the sky and burned up on the gas giant's atmosphere, must have been thanks to those cheap knock-off Working Joe androids." Evan replied.

"I guess so. But Seegson isn't stupid and I've seen Joes in action. They might look pretty primitive compared to Weyland androids, but they get the job done. Function over form you could say."

Evan waved off the notion and gave Joe a questioning look, "C'mon man, that company could barely keep up with Weyland; they've been operating in the red for God knows how long."

"I don't think it was the Joes. Something else must have happened there." Joe said firmly. "Oh and, just wondering, how come you assumed that what's in those crates is a virus?" He asked, cocking his head sideways towards Evan.

"Oh I don't know, biohazard usually means virus or some kind of disease. Besides, I always see all those scientists in the bio-research wing usually working with petri-dishes and the like whenever I make any rounds down there. I mean, if not a virus, what else could it be?"


	2. Chapter 1 - Obsession

**CHAPTER 1 – Obsession**

 **"Priority one, insure return of organism for analysis. All other considerations secondary. Crew expendable."**

 **\- Weyland-Yutani Special Order 937**

* * *

The greenish, mirror-like floor of the bio-research wing clearly reflected Patterson's contempt towards one of the young lab assistants who clumsily fumbled with a keycard and tried to make sense of his own thoughts over Patterson's yelling.

"How the hell am I to be expected to get anything done in this damn lab if people like you who are supposed to keep things in order here can't even keep access to vital storage areas under control!?"

"I'm sorry sir, but… I… I… was told to lock this room down to keep security for the upcoming experiment"

"Do you think I care about what they told you before? I am telling you now to open this door and all I see you doing is making excuses!" Patterson stared directly at the assistant's eyes, "Did you enter this room?"

"No Sir, I just locked it from here. There are a lot of different security keys and they're unmarked because they were just recently given to me."

Patterson cupped his face with his hands in annoyance as the assistant proceeded to try to mash a different keycard into the door's slot. After having tried two more incorrect cards Patterson pushed the assistant out of the way, snatching one of the cards from the man's pocket.

"Give me that!"

"Sir! I'm…"

Before the assistant could finish his sentence Patterson had opened the door and shut it in the young man's face, the red light in its center flashing on as Patterson locked it from the inside.

"What an asshole…" The assistant said under his breath, putting all of the other keycards back into his pocket.

Patterson took a deep, labored breath and let out a long sigh as he moved towards the center of the room. The walls were covered in large, beige padding with multiple computer terminals stuck inside of them. A few storage lockers lined the back wall with several desks topped with LM-Link computers in the room's flanks. Patterson took off his glasses and laid them on top of one of the desks, moving closer to the room's center, his breathing becoming shallower the closer he got.

"Ok… ok… God please tell me this thing is secure."

Patterson crouched next to a big crate covered by a black fabric, placing his hand on top of it, leaning closer and placing his ear next to it. He heard nothing and the tension on his face lessened by a significant amount.

"These people don't know what we're dealing with here… security, security, that's what's important." Patterson scratched at the back of his neck and stood up quickly, taking a step back. He reached for the fabric and slowly began to pull it off the crate, the rustling of the fabric making every hair stand on end. With the fabric removed, all that Patterson could see was a white, featureless box with bold, yellow letters making out the words: _Xenomorph XX121_. Patterson pressed a button on the top of the crate which made a part of the upper lid open up, revealing a panel of dark glass.

"Let's take a look inside, shall we?" Patterson muttered to himself.

He pressed another button and entered a key combination in a hidden panel which opened up on the side, slowly turning the glass from opaque to clear. As the glass' tint shifted, so did Patterson's gaze. He craned his neck over the box and looked inside at its only content: a single, leathery egg with a semi-translucent mid-section revealing a veiny interior with a strange dark object shifting inside.

A small smile formed on Patterson's face as he observed the egg. He slowly knelt towards the glass and began to lightly tap it. He tapped the glass slightly harder and the object within the egg shook violently, startling Patterson who immediately closed the lid and backed off from the crate, breathing heavily. He wiped off the sweat from his brow with his sleeve and began to compose himself, grabbing the fabric from the floor and covering the crate once more. He then turned around, took his glasses from the desk and unlocked the door. He stuck his head into the corridor and looked both ways before hurriedly walking outside and sealing the room behind him.

Weyland-Yutani's bio-weapons division had sought to acquire specimens of this species for as long as knowledge of them had existed. Attempts at securing them usually have ended in failure, such as the USCSS Nostromo's ill-fated voyage to LV-426 and Seegson's Sevastopol station's destruction at the hands of a Xenomorph infestation, a fact known only by top Company officials, who had purchased the station hours before it was destroyed. Thomas Patterson was the head of a team tasked with securing and analyzing every aspect of Species XX121, from its reproductive cycle to its suitability as a biological weapon system. Patterson's team had led a mission to KG-348 to find floating pieces of debris left behind after Sevastopol's destruction, finding fifteen intact Xenomorph eggs in a broken-off portion of the facility's main reactor chamber which had remained in orbit of the planet. The derelict section had traces of a recent reactor purge which must have been initiated a few hours prior to the station's destruction. The purge severely damaged most of the eggs in the chamber, however, the fifteen that were recovered happened to be located in an adjacent room, safe from the purge and ripe for the taking by Patterson's team.

The single egg in the room was deemed optimal for breeding the first Xenomorph under controlled conditions, having been moved from lockdown in the main storage compartment to this storage room in the bio-research wing in preparation for the experiment. It was sealed off from unauthorized access to prevent accidental exposure and consequent infection of the entire facility. However, the real reason for it being singled out was because of Patterson's obsession for the species – he wanted a specimen that he could watch from the very beginning, believing he could act as a parent to the creature and help it along with its development. He was well aware of the risks, and so held a deep fear for the possibility of something going wrong; yet, his insatiable curiosity and desire to learn more about the specimen overpowered any apprehension he may have had.

Having reached the main laboratory, Patterson walked over to one of his colleagues, Dr. Anton Leonidovich, who was looking through a large pane of blast-resistant glass, examining the room where the experiment would take place. It was a vast space with gray, reinforced walls, occupied solely by a complicated apparatus fastened to the back wall. It consisted of a chair with restraints attached and a circular device reminiscent of a cup-holder attached to the front of the chair. With eagerness in his eyes, Patterson put a hand on Leonidovich's shoulder.

"Anton, I think we're ready."


	3. Chapter 2 - The Experiment

**CHAPTER 2 – The Experiment**

 **"I remember some… horrible dream about… smothering."**

 **\- Kane, Executive Officer, USCSS Nostromo**

* * *

Leonidovich looked at Patterson and gave a slight nod, turning towards an intercom system and pressing the speak button. "This is Dr. Leonidovich, teams Kilo and Lima proceed with preparations for XX121 implantation."

Within moments, people were running down the corridors, red and yellow lights were flashing and doors were sealing as guards checked each one to ensure they were tightly locked. Patterson and a group of men and women marched down the corridor into the storage room he had visited earlier. The door opened, blasting the group with stale air and remaining open as they entered. Two armed men lifted the crate and placed it on top of a trolley as the scientists accompanying Patterson examined it with various instruments.

"Temperature's in the green." Said one woman.

"Respiratory rate is slightly lower than normal but still within acceptable limits." Said another scientist.

"Sturdy little things, aren't they?" Remarked Leonidovich.

The trolley was pushed out of the room and down the now clear corridor, passing locked door after locked door, constantly under the watch of the countless surveillance cameras that were scattered throughout the facility. The guards entered the experiment room with the trolley as the scientists entered the laboratory. One of the guards pressed three buttons in quick succession on the crate, afterwards typing in a code on the side keypad. The crate let out a high-pitched hiss as the pressurized air escaped through the now unsealed lid. The second guard took a few steps back and watched as the other opened the lid fully and exposed the brown Xenomorph egg. The man stared at it in silence for a few moments before beckoning the other guard to leave the room; he moved towards a wall panel and flipped a large switch before exiting and sealing the door behind him.

A panel in the ceiling opened, revealing a long robotic arm which slowly came down and began to disassemble the crate around the egg. It's hand switching to a screwdriver-tipped end and perfectly positioning itself on a screw which held one of the crate's side panels together. With a soft whirr the hand rotated, pulling out the screw. The scientists watched closely through the glass as the first screw fell from the crate, hitting the floor with a sharp clink that echoed through the room. Shortly thereafter, the second screw fell – then the third, fourth, fifth, until all the screws had been removed. The robotic arm pulled each panel away, completely freeing the egg. The arm's hand switched to a ring-like pincer which grabbed the egg and gently placed it onto the receptacle attached to the apparatus in the back wall. The scientists watched as the robotic arm then retreated back into its panel in the roof.

"Bring in the subject." Said Patterson.

The lights dimmed, leaving the room pitch-black except for a path leading to the chair from a door on the opposite wall from where the egg was brought in. The door opened and a grizzled man in an orange jumpsuit was pushed in by a guard and told to sit in the chair. The guard closed the door, leaving the man alone inside, who proceeded through the path and sat down in the chair.

"Mr. Ellison, you were charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder, assault and the rape of multiple women back on Earth. You were found guilty of your crimes following a long and grueling trial and you were sentenced to death. Is that correct?" Asked Patterson.

Ellison looked at the glass with the face of a man who had abandoned any thought of hope, "Yeah, that's right."

"I'm not sure if you were informed, but you have been transferred from the Fiorina 161 Class C Correctional Unit to one of Weyland-Yutani's research facilities. You will be helping us by taking part in a very important scientific experiment."

Ellison's squinted his eyes towards the glass. "You can't be serious. An experiment? What kind of experiment?"

"Consider it one last act to redeem yourself from your crimes. The right punishment if you prefer."

Ellison began to laugh, "Right punishment? I'm condemned to die, what could possibly be the _right_ punishment?"

Ellison's laughter soon came to a sudden stop as the restraints on the chair tightened around his arms, legs and waist. The lights on the path turned off, leaving him in complete darkness. "Wha… What is this?"

A single light illuminated both Ellison and the egg which stood in front of him, Ellison's face turning from slight worry to full panic as he struggled to get free from the restraints. The metal restraints would not budge despite the full strength of a panicking man attempting to break himself free. Behind the glass, the scientists were writing down notes and punching data into handheld tablets. Patterson stood with glee as his Xenomorph was about to hatch from its egg, already fulfilling its intended purpose as a weapon by dispatching a vile criminal such as this.

"Please! Please! What the fuck are you doing!? This isn't right, please help me! Somebody help me! Anybody!"

The egg began to quiver open, it's pink, slimy interior revealing itself to Ellison. He froze in fear and stared with wide open eyes at the alien egg which lay before him. Letting out one last scream, Ellison opened his mouth and barely managed to catch a glimpse of the eight-legged creature which had emerged from the egg and was leaping towards him. Before he had time to react, the creature latched onto his head, plunged its long proboscis into the prisoner's mouth and down his throat, its tail swiftly wrapping around the neck and restricting his airflow. Ellison's body tensed up as if he had been hit by an electric jolt, shaking his limbs violently within their restraints. The scientists looked on as the intercom speaker continued to broadcast horrific, wet and panicked gagging sounds as the alien's proboscis went deeper into the esophagus and its respiratory tube fought its way past the man's epiglottis and into his trachea to feed him oxygen. After a few more seconds of gagging and gurgling, Ellison fell unconscious, his body relaxed and all signs of resistance disappeared. All the scientists turned to each other and put down their notepads and tablets. Patterson and Leonidovich smiled as they looked at the man with the light brown creature firmly attached to his face.

"Success."


	4. Chapter 3 - Suspicion

**CHAPTER 3 – Suspicion**

 **"My mommy always said there were no monsters – no real ones – but there are."**

 **\- Newt, Colonist, Acheron LV-426**

* * *

Four hours later, a scientist was sent into the experiment room to check on Ellison's condition. She walked in with a tray containing several medical instruments which she placed next to Ellison's chair. She took a sample of his blood, recorded his temperature and ensured that the room was clear for the next stage in the Xenomorph's life cycle. The scientist then turned her attention to the alien still attached to the prisoner's face. She prodded the creature with an electrified stick which caused it to more tightly grip Ellison's neck, an act which prompted the scientist to step back and allow the creature to relax before continuing. The alien loosened its grip after a few moments and the scientist proceeded to take samples of its skin cells. After placing the sample onto a petri dish and securing it in a small box, she reached for another syringe but before she could take a blood sample from the alien she was stopped by a sharp yell from the intercom.

"Stop what you're doing! Are you crazy? That thing's blood is a carborane superacid! It'll burn right out of your syringe and through your damn hand!" Shouted Patterson.

The yell startled the scientist which made her accidentally scrape the tip of the syringe's needle into the alien, making its acidic blood spray out of the small wound and onto the scientist's face. She let out a screech of pain as she fell into shock and began to seize up on the floor.

"Fuck!" Patterson rushed out of the laboratory and into the experiment room, pulling the scientist away from the alien and desperately trying to wipe the acid off her face with a piece of his lab coat that he had torn off. Patterson's efforts were futile as the scientist's face dissolved before his eyes, flesh peeling off, revealing bare bone intermittently through the sound of her choking and retching on her own blood, her panicked eyes melting away as tiny droplets of acid had fallen upon them. Patterson fell back and watched in horror as the woman suffered an excruciating death, a bubbly yellow liquid replacing large portions of her head.

"What the hell is going on!?" Asked Leonidovich as he barged into the room. Stopping in front of Patterson and briefly losing his balance as he noticed the gory mess that lay on the ground.

Patterson calmly looked up at Leonidovich, "She got acid on her face… acid from the creature." He then stood and dropped the burning piece of cloth he was still holding on to.

"How?"

"She wanted to take a blood sample, I warned her that she shouldn't, but I think I was too loud…"

"Too loud?"

"Yes… I startled her…"

Leonidovich looked at Patterson with his mouth agape, turning his gaze towards the dead scientist. "I'll… I'll get someone to clean this up." Leonidovich left the room, pushing through a crowd of onlookers that had formed at the door, all whispering to each other about the scientist's unexpected death. Patterson told the onlookers to continue their work and closed the door from the inside. He walked past the body and leaned in close to the thing attached to Ellison's face, the look of horror on his face completely replaced by wonder.

"Incredible." He whispered to it softly.

The woman's actions were hardly accidental, she had no idea what type of creature she was dealing with and so Patterson had taken advantage of that fact and had explicitly told the woman to take a blood sample from the alien, hiding the true nature of its corrosive bodily fluid. As she did so, Patterson thought it a good course of action to purposefully startle her as she attempted to extract the blood, causing her to make an unclean wound and get acid sprayed onto her so he could observe the effects.

As he stood close to the alien, he looked at his hand and slowly moved it closer to the alien's body, hesitating at first, but then stroking it gently with the back of his fingers. "You and I will make great strides together, I know it."

The alien tightened its grip on Ellison as a reaction to Patterson's touch, eliciting a slight chuckle from him. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you." He took his hand off the creature and proceeded to walk out of the room just as a group of men arrived to collect the scientist's body and clean the room. Patterson gave them a scornful look and went down the corridor towards the habitation wing, adjusting his glasses and tidying up his half-torn lab coat, a sly smile on his face.

Evan whistled as he patrolled down one of the sterile corridors of the bio-research wing, looking at his reflection on the floor from time to time. He had one hand on his pulse rifle as it hung from a sling strung across his chest and swung the other arm in rhythm as he marched. He hated patrolling through this part of the facility, always having to dodge orderlies, scientists and assistants as they carried on their busy schedules. He always managed to bump into a gurney or two, angering someone who had placed something delicate on top of it. All he could do is apologize and carry on, even if it wasn't his own fault as all Weyland-Yutani research personnel had command authority over grunts such as himself. He tried to ignore them as he whistled past, but inevitably he was shushed by a woman who was pushing a wheelchair with someone suffering from hyperacusis, a severe sensitivity to certain frequencies of sound.

He decided he was going to pay a visit to the mess hall and grab something to eat. He didn't think the world would end if he didn't finish his patrol as he had gone through this place more times than he could count and nothing spectacular had ever happened. Making a 180-degree spin, he began walking in the opposite direction and rounded a corner which led straight to the bio-research wing mess hall. As he approached the door he saw a scientist who raised an eyebrow at him as he passed by.

"What?" He asked the scientist, but the man just turned away from him and walked away. "That's what I thought." Evan thought to himself.

The wide, white door let out three quick beeps as he approached it before quickly opening and revealing a spacious environment filled with tables and people eating lunch. Evan's nostrils were instantly struck by the smell of pizza and the buffet from which many people were greedily filling their plates. He walked towards the counter but instead he overheard a name which quite surprised him: "Patterson."

"Oh shit." Evan thought. He knew that if Patterson saw him skipping his duty he'd be in more trouble than he could handle. He saw the tall, controlling man sitting in front of Dr. Leonidovich at one of the tables close to him. He shuffled from his place and stood behind a pillar so Patterson wouldn't notice him and decided to eavesdrop on their conversation. Surely, anything they said must be more exciting than making rounds through busy corridors.

"The specimen is behaving just as we expected. If everything continues in their current state, we should see the next stage come into effect in I'd say… four hours or so." Evan heard Leonidovich say.

"You know we shouldn't discuss that here Anton." Patterson whispered.

"What does it matter? Security checks are in place, talking about the specimen's condition isn't going to magically change that."

"That's not what I mean. I don't want anybody getting curious and wanting to take a look. That specimen is mine and I don't want anybody touching it."

Leonidovich cocked an eyebrow, "Yours?"

"You know what I mean."

Evan wondered what specimen they could be talking about. Maybe it had to do with what they brought with the crates.

"The facehugger should die off after successful implantation, shortly after the prisoner should regain consciousness and then we should quickly begin to see results." Leonidovich said.

"You think I don't know that? I'm serious Anton, no talking about the damn Xenomorph unless we're in the secure section of the bio-research wing. Ok?"

"All right, whatever you say Thomas."

Facehugger? Xenomorph? Evan had never heard those terms before. Whatever they were, they didn't sound like a simple virus as he had suspected with Joe. He observed as Patterson and Leonidovich made their way out of the mess hall. They spoke of implantations, a prisoner and these two unknown terms; he knew that these men were up to some sinister plot and not your everyday bio-weapon development. Evan forgot about his appetite and left the mess hall as well, instead heading towards the nearest security room. He found one close to where Patterson and Leonidovich were heading, stepping inside thanks to his security clearance. Inside, he saw one man sitting at a large office chair, staring at a wall of monitors which displayed the views of multiple cameras within the bio-research wing. Evan approached the man and noticed that he outranked him, so he told him that he was relieved of duty for the day. The guard protested but was practically shoved out of the room by Evan.

"Ok, what do we have here?" Evan said as he sat in the chair, moving the keyboard closer to himself and trying to find a list of all available cameras. He noticed that many of them were locked out by an administrator password which he didn't know. He found one such locked out camera labeled: _Bio-research, Secure Experiment Room, Xenomorph XX121_. He knew he had found the one that must have contained whatever it was Patterson and Leonidovich were talking about. He made a mental note of the name of the camera and left the room, knowing that his friend Joe could probably help him figure out the password to the secure cameras.

Three hours later, Evan managed to track down Joe around the facility's reactor core. The place was a large, cave-like and seemingly bottomless pit which housed a massive fusion reactor. Arcs of plasma flew between the different reactor pylons as coolant fluid fell like rain from the ceiling, lightly splashing against Evan's uniform and cap. The reactor was at least twenty stories high and took constant supervision and maintenance to keep it running, making it quite a crowded environment in the catwalks that surrounded the central pylon. Weyland-Yutani industrial synthetics usually handled most of the work, but there were a few human supervisors scattered around to ensure everything worked efficiently. Guards such as Joe were posted around the reactor as it was one of the more sensitive parts of the entire facility.

"How the hell can you work here!?" Evan shouted at Joe over the thunderous noise of the reactor.

"You get used to it! What are you doing here!? Shouldn't you be at the communications wing!?"

"I needed to ask for your help with something! I overheard Patterson and Leonidovich speaking about some crazy experiment they're doing over at the bio-research wing…" Joe cut Evan off by raising a hand, motioning towards a door which led to the reactor room's security post. Both walked inside and as the doors closed, the deafening noise subsided, being replaced by the soft whirr of the venting system.

"You were saying?" Asked Joe.

"So, they were talking about this experiment which I'm damn sure has to do with those crates they brought in while we were guarding the hangar."

"So what? I don't think there's anything wrong with them doing their jobs." Joe said, his expression filled with confusion.

"It's not just any experiment man. I went into the security feed room and the specific room they're working on was hidden behind an admin password. Besides, I overheard them talking in the mess hall; they spoke of a prisoner and something called a Xenomorph and something else…a _facehugger_ I think. You know full well we don't keep prisoners of any kind in this facility, let alone _anything_ called a facehugger. I want access to that camera so I can see what they're up to. It is my job as a guard around this place to ensure security, right?"

Joe crossed his arms and leaned against a wall, shooting a patronizing look towards Evan. "Look, no offense Evan, but I think you're being paranoid. I know you don't like Patterson, but sneaking around his experiments won't do you any good. Yeah, I agree it sounds suspicious, but I feel like you're more curious than genuinely concerned about a security breach."

"Joe, are you going to help me get that admin code or not? You were suspicious too when you saw that shipment come in. You even asked me why I thought it was just a virus. Now I'm goddamn telling you it's not!"

"You don't know that for sure."

Evan took off his cap in frustration. "Dammit Joe! That's why I want to find out in the first place!"

"If I get you access, you'll stop snooping around Patterson's work?" Joe said calmly.

"Yeah, yeah, sure, I'll stop snooping." Evan said quickly. He looked at Joe intently and pointed his finger at him, "But I want you to come with me and take a look as well, I know for damn sure that guy is up to no good in those labs of his."

Joe finally capitulated and agreed to help Evan. Joe's clearance codes were higher than Evan's, allowing him access to the admin password for the facility-wide surveillance system. He led Evan to his quarters after their respective shifts had ended and began to rummage through his documents to find the password that he had written down somewhere. Calling Joe's quarters disorganized would have been an understatement: books were out of their shelves, papers lay scattered on every available surface, his bunk covered in spare parts for his pulse rifle and sticky-notes attached to every nook and cranny with some reminder or other written onto them. Evan walked inside and took a look around the room, his eyes widened at the sight.

"Jesus, Joe…"


	5. Chapter 4 - They Come from Within

**CHAPTER 4 – They Come from Within**

 **"Bones are bent outward, like he exploded from inside."**

 **\- Dallas, Captain, USCSS Nostromo**

* * *

After two hours of searching, Evan nearly gave up on Joe who kept insisting that he had the password written down somewhere. He went through every individual note he had written and found everything from a patrol route plan to a pasta recipe his mother had sent him back from the Luna colony. Evan's head began to droop as he grew tired of searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack until Joe struck gold.

"I found it! Bio-research wing secure surveillance feed admin pass."

"It's about time."

"C'mon, let's head over to that security room of yours."

Evan and Joe walked down the familiar greenish-floored corridor that led to the security post Evan had been in earlier, they had left their weapons at Joe's quarters since they were off-duty, with the added benefit of being able to move faster. They saw an unusual surge in activity, with many high-level scientists seemingly preparing for something; non-essential personnel were nowhere to be seen. "That's strange…" Evan thought to himself. He looked around and saw other members of the facility's security detail posted at main entrances and storage compartment doors. They looked as if they were partaking in some sort of drill so Evan didn't think much about it; he dismissed the buzz as one of the fairly frequent and simple exercises for a viral containment breach which the research staff conducted to keep their people on their toes in case of an emergency.

"This way." Evan said, leading Joe towards the room. The security post was fortunately unoccupied and Evan took a seat in front of the screens. He looked through the list of cameras and found the one he was looking for: _Bio-research, Secure Experiment Room, Xenomorph XX121_.

Joe tapped Evan on the shoulder, "Evan, I still don't think this is right. We're breaking quite a few regulations."

"You have the clearance don't you?"

"Yeah but, I just don't feel comfortable sticking our noses in other people's business, that's all."

Evan selected the camera and he was immediately prompted with a password request. Joe let out a heavy sigh and looked at the ceiling for a few seconds before looking at the sticky-note and typing in the password. The long, complicated string of letters, numbers and symbols activated the bottom left screen, revealing a featureless room with a man in an orange jumpsuit sitting in a strange contraption, either asleep or unconscious. The egg had already been removed from the apparatus' receptacle.

"Well, we found your prisoner." Joe said. "Wait… what's that next to him?" He pointed at a strange tan-colored object which lay on the floor next to the prisoner. "That looks like a big-ass scorpion."

Evan zoomed in on the object, both of them gasped as they saw the unknown, faceless, eight-legged creature curled up on the floor with more detail. "I've never seen anything like it." Evan said, stunned.

"We're watching this live now. Can you go back in the records and see where this came from?" Joe asked, motioning to the time controls on the screen's interface.

Evan nodded yes and began to reverse the footage. They saw nothing change for two minutes before they began to see the object on the floor twitching periodically before snapping onto the prisoner's face, its tail wrapped tightly around his neck.

"Woah! Play it from there." Joe said, startled at the sudden movement.

Both observed incredulously as the thing was firmly attached to the prisoner's face, two flaps on the side of its body pulsating synchronously with the man's breathing.

"Is it feeding him oxygen?" Evan said, barely audibly.

"Shhh." Joe said, watching the footage intently. The creature's tail suddenly became limp, releasing the neck and sliding off his shoulders. Its legs began to loosen one-by-one until it was simply grasping the prisoner's head. It turned around and weakly crawled off his face, onto his chest, down his legs and onto the floor, it's spiderlike movements instilling terror in both Joe and Evan as they observed.

"What the hell…?" Evan whispered.

The creature keeled over and began to thrash its fingerlike legs like a dying cockroach before curling its tail close to its body and finally expiring. Evan quickly re-synchronized the footage with the live feed and noticed that the prisoner was now awake and very much confused. He seemed to be speaking but nothing could be heard. Joe quickly leaned in and turned up the volume on the feed, filling the security room with the raspy, frightened voice of the prisoner.

"Where am I? I… I don't remember this place."

A disembodied voice came over the speakers, "Mr. Ellison, do you remember why you are here?" It was Patterson.

"What? No… I was on a correctional unit transport ship, I was in a cell for a few hours before I fell asleep, I dreamt about… drowning in the ocean… Where am I? Who are you?" Ellison looked confusedly around the room, notably distressed about the mysterious gap in his memory. Evan and Joe looked on as Ellison noticed his restraints, beginning to panic.

Patterson's voice crackled through the speakers again, "Interesting, the implantation process results in apparent memory loss. Probably the brain reacting to the traumatic experience, erasing the memory or making it appear as a dream to suppress the emotional response."

A different voice came on: a woman with a strong foreign accent, "I don't think that's the whole reason though. It could be that the memory loss was instigated directly by the facehugger. Possibly to safeguard the embryo from the host attempting to harm himself to remove it."

Joe and Evan looked to each other, "Embryo?" said both at the same time.

"Embryo? What are you talking about? Are you saying I have something inside me!?" Ellison screamed, struggling in his restraints.

"Interesting thought Dr. Nyilas." Another scientist's voice conceded.

Ellison became more distressed, visibly tugging at his restraints. "Are any of you going to tell me what's going on? What do I have inside of me!?" He turned his head and noticed the dead creature lying next to him, his gaze frozen on it. Evan and Joe saw as the man's face turned into one of sudden remembrance.

Ellison's eyes widened and the color flushed from his face as the memory of the implantation returned to him. The darkness, the egg, and that creature that nearly suffocated him and sent something down his throat. "Oh my God! Oh my God! What do I have inside of me!?"

Ellison's sweat began to form a puddle under his seat as he shivered and screamed in his restraints. His mouth opened to let out another scream but instead a loud cough and a small stream of blood came flying out, startling himself along with Evan and Joe as they watched.

"I believe it's time people. Center the seat please." Patterson's voice said soon after, a thinly veiled enthusiasm clearly noticeable in his speech.

Ellison's chair began to move towards the center of the room as a small amount of blood-tainted saliva dripped from Ellison's mouth, who still lay in shock staring at the blood-stained floor in front of him. The chair contraption clicked into place in the center of the room, followed by the robotic arm descending from the ceiling, its hand now consisting of an instrument vaguely reminiscent of some large surgical forceps. The arm stopped above Ellison, who now began to wildly try to escape from his restraints, to no avail.

"Plea…Please." He said, his voice weakened.

Suddenly, Ellison let out a gut-wrenching scream, his torso pushing forward and his head tilted back fully. He began to leak large amounts of blood from his mouth and began to cough violently, shaking in his seat. Evan watched in disbelief while Joe's mouth hung wide-open at the terrifying sight. Ellison began to thrash back and forth as a dark red spot formed and expanded in the center of his chest, his screams filling the room and nearly blowing out the speakers in the security post. Before anybody could blink, the prisoner's chest exploded, caking the glass where the scientists were observing with blood and chunks of flesh and bone. His eyes were lifeless, his hands twitching from his overloaded nervous system.

The room fell into a deathly silence, a silence which was then pierced by a high-pitched shriek emanating from a blood-soaked, eyeless, worm-like creature that had emerged from Ellison's chest.

Patterson's voice came on after a few seconds, softly saying, "Hello little one, welcome to the world."


	6. Chapter 5 - Patterson's Child

**CHAPTER 5 – Patterson's Child**

 **"We're on an express elevator to hell, going down!"**

 **\- Hudson, Private, US Colonial Marines**

* * *

Patterson pressed his face against the glass, trying to catch a closer look of the newborn alien lifeform which still lay wedged inside Ellison's chest cavity. The chestburster twitched in its place, each movement pushing it further out of its host's body and closer to freedom. One of the scientists began to move towards a control panel to summon the room's robotic arm to seize the specimen, but was stopped by Patterson.

"Don't!... Don't. Let it be for a moment." He said, watching with eager anticipation.

The creature made soft hissing noises as it freed itself from its host, falling lightly onto the floor and curiously examining the strange, featureless room it now found itself in. There was no escape, no places to hide in – it felt exposed and vulnerable, hissing aggressively at the walls that enclosed and trapped it. Patterson knew the creature felt threatened, especially at the sight of numerous humans staring at it from behind glass. With his eyes still close to the glass, he motioned to the other scientists to dim the lights in one corner of the room, leaving it in darkness. Dr. Nyilas walked towards the controls and input a near-zero value for the lights in one corner. As she did so, the chestburster turned and slithered towards the darkness, disappearing from sight.

A wide smile now occupied Patterson's visage, pleased at the birth of his specimen and its apparent perfect health. Not one minute in the world and its instincts already told it that the darkness was its ally, and once in that darkness, it would be safe from harm.

He looked at Dr. Nyilas, "Leave the body in the room, I'm sure it will serve as a perfect source of nourishment for the specimen." She nodded and left the laboratory.

Patterson peered into the dark spot of the room, catching a glimpse of movement from time to time – a sight that filled him with pride in his accomplishment. He told everyone that their work here was done for the day and that they were dismissed. All the scientists packed their equipment and, after a few minutes, had vacated the lab, except for Patterson. A wild idea had popped into his mind: He was alone now, he could go inside and meet the creature face-to-face. Nobody in the facility was more aware of the nature of the Xenomorph species than he was. They were killers, a perfect combination of DNA which resulted in an organism that defied the laws of nature. They were strong, agile, powerful, but most importantly, they were more intelligent than their appearance would otherwise suggest.

Patterson believed the alien to be harmless at its current state, especially since it had been birthed only moments before; he fought back his apprehension and left the lab to enter the large, gray room. He looked everywhere to make sure he wasn't being observed by anyone and opened the door to the room. He stepped inside and closed it behind him, looking straight at the darkened area of the room, watching for any sudden movements. His heart raced, whether it was out of anticipation or fear he couldn't tell, but he felt compelled to go on.

The only sounds were Patterson's shoes hitting the ground, echoing off the walls and filling him with even more tension. He passed Ellison's dead body, glancing towards the gaping hole which now occupied his chest, the foul stench assaulted his nostrils as he took a closer look. He imagined some may see this scene as brutal and horrifying – but Patterson only saw the workings of a magnificent creature, the workings of a species which made Humans seem insignificant and small in their complexity. Moving away from the deceased host, Patterson approached the corner where the chestburster was hiding, taking shorter and softer steps the closer he got.

A soft hiss came from the darkness and Patterson froze, his mind racing with doubt and fear. He gulped a full breath of air and knelt down, crawling even closer to the dark. As his eyes began to adjust, he saw the small alien lifeform curled into itself in the room's corner, its head raised and watching Patterson's every move. He crawled closer, the creature coiling itself as he did so. Without uttering a word, Patterson reached out and touched its head, eliciting an angered screech from it, startling Patterson. He recovered quickly and grabbed the creature with both arms, one hand holding its head while the other held its tail.

The alien began to violently thrash and squirm in his hands with equally aggressive hisses and growls. Patterson walked into the light and looked directly at its brightly-lit face, keeping himself as calm and collected as he could. After around a minute of struggling, the chestburster finally calmed down and stopped moving. It began to look back at Patterson, its raspy breathing matching his.

"See? I'm not going to hurt you. You remember me, don't you? Yes, I know you do… I've been around you since you were still in your egg." He told it. "I know you can't possibly understand me, but at least you can get used to my voice… you and I will be working quite a lot together."

The alien's mind was an enigma to Patterson, but he could see their intelligence right away. It struggled to get free, but it understood that its attempts were futile and instead opted to conserve its energy. It stopped hissing and growling as he spoke and even examined his features with what seemed to be genuine curiosity. He was determined to understand the species, to unlock its potential beyond the ravings and plans of Company officials. This specimen was the epitome of biological achievement – appearing alien to the ignorant and frightening to the shortsighted. However, to those who saw through those qualities, there lay a creature of infinite grace and beauty, a creature freed from the burden of conscience and greed.

Patterson gradually loosened his grip on the alien, allowing it to begin to move freely. Once his hands were loose enough, the chestburster slid onto Patterson's arm and moved down his torso to the ground, retreating once again to its dark corner. A relieved sigh escaped through Patterson's lips, his eyes filled with pride and satisfaction as he saw his specimen return to its niche, considering it his duty to ensure its growth and survival. He recalled that he had been tasked by The Company to weaponize the Xenomorph species, to discover ways in which it could be used for everything ranging from crowd-control to planetary invasion. He scoffed at the notion, this species was a weapon by nature, he knew that they were inherently uncontrollable and that any attempts to turn them into a pack of hunting dogs would end in disaster.

He had just met a Xenomorph youngling face-to-face, it wasn't just an animal to be tamed like a wolf or domesticated like an ox. It was intelligent, so much so that it scared Patterson. His job was to study it, but he couldn't help but feel that he was the one who was being studied. He realized that once it grew, its mental acuity would closely follow, the results of which Patterson couldn't begin to imagine. Other scientists claimed it would remain an animal as there was no evidence of them using any discernible form of technology, but their argument begged the question: What is the purpose of technology?

Human technology's sole purpose is to allow them to survive and thrive. Fire allows food to be cooked, metal to be forged, heat to be produced. Weapons allow Humans to hunt and kill other animals for sustenance while tools allow them to build shelter and harvest plants for even more food. It is all for the purpose of survival, as without it, Humans would be extremely ill-equipped to thrive. The Xenomorph, on the other hand, does not suffer from this affliction. The Xenomorph is built to kill anything in its path, it can nourish itself simply out of atmospheric water vapor, its acidic blood prevents any other predators from daring to attack it and the resin it is capable of secreting provides the perfect shelter for it. In short, Humans compensate for their biological inadequacies through technological solutions – a habit born out of necessity. For all intents and purposes, this creature which now hid from Patterson was not a simple animal, but an intelligent being whose sole concern was the continuation of its species, at any cost.

According to the little research Weyland-Yutani was able to conduct on the Xenomorph species beforehand, the chestburster would remain in its current state for a few hours before fully molting into its adult form. Previous attempts to study the species consistently resulted in failure, either because of the creature's innate aggression hindering research, or due to incompetence and lackluster security measures. Patterson was confident that the room he was currently in would be adequate for the time being. A larger enclosure was being prepared deeper in the bio-research wing for when the alien reached its adult size, fully kitted with state-of-the-art surveillance equipment and more security systems than a supermax penal colony.

Patterson took a deep breath and made his way towards the door, ensuring that the chestburster remained in its corner as he did so. He slid out of the room and closed the door, wiping a drop of sweat that had formed on his brow. A wide smile began to form on his face, followed by nervous laughter as his mind raced with thoughts of what he had just done and what to do next. Filled with confidence, Patterson adjusted his lab coat and strode down the corridor towards the residential wing.


	7. Chapter 6 - Imprisoned

**CHAPTER 6 – Imprisoned**

 **"Your ass is already on the line. The only question is, what are you going to do about it?"**

 **\- Ripley, Warrant Officer, USCSS Nostromo**

* * *

Joe and Evan did not fully comprehend what they had just witnessed. They had seen a man burst open in front of their own eyes, seen a strange snake-like creature slither its way out of the carcass and watched Patterson go inside the room before the camera feed was shut off.

Evan struggled in distinguishing between utter shock and complete disbelief at everything he had seen on the screens. He shot a look at Joe, turned off the screens, grabbed him by the sleeve and began heading for the door. As they walked out, Joe immediately tried to pull Evan back in after noticing the scientist who had just bumped into him. Evan staggered but composed himself, staring directly at the visibly angered scientist who stood in front of him with his arms crossed.

"Dr. Patterson! Please excuse us, we were just doing a routine patrol…" Evan said nervously.

Patterson's eyes narrowed, "Evan Rowland. Joseph Blau. You two are off-duty at this time." He glanced sideways at Joe, and then looked at the security post they had just come out of. "What were you doing in there?"

Joe quickly intervened, "Just an impromptu patrol Dr. Patterson, better to make sure everything is secure instead of doing nothing while off-duty. Right?"

"Were you looking at any security feeds?"

"Only mid-sec and below. Nothing high-level." Evan said.

Patterson pushed Evan aside and barged into the security post, turned the screens back on and began to check the log files. His eyes turned from suspicious to frustrated to enraged as he noticed that there had been a recent entry into the secure bio-med camera feeds, including the one in his specimen's room. He smashed his fist onto the desk and pointed towards Evan and Joe. "What did you see!?"

Joe shook his head rapidly, "Nothing Sir! As Evan said, we just checked mid-sec and –"

Patterson held up a hand and cut Joe off, "Spare me the bullshit Blau. I know you saw it – yes, you know precisely what I mean."

"Sir please, we don't know what you're talking about." Evan quickly replied.

"You are a liability to me now, both of you. You saw it. You saw it!" Patterson snapped, grabbing Evan by the collar. "I will not let you interfere with its development, let alone let you reveal it to others!"

He let go of Evan and began to scratch at the back of his neck. He looked up and pointed at Joe. "You had clearance didn't you? I knew there was an oversight somewhere, I thought we were thorough enough."

"Dr. Patterson please, we have no idea what you're talking about!" Joe pleaded.

Patterson paced in the room, muttering unintelligible phrases to himself. He stopped and took out a radio from one of his pockets and dialed a special frequency into it. He raised it to his mouth and began to speak into it. "We have an unauthorized security breach at Bio-med high security entrance three. Two suspects to be taken to detention immediately."

The radio came alive and a methodical, almost robotic voice said, "On our way."

Evan's eyes widened and he instinctively began to back away from Patterson. Joe followed suit. They turned away from him and began to run down the corridor, dodging gurneys and stacks of crates as they ran. They did not fully understand the implications of having eavesdropped onto the high-security footage of that creature's emergence from the prisoner, but they knew for a fact that the whole facility would soon be coming down on top of them.

They ran and nearly made it out of the bio-research wing but were both suddenly intercepted and tackled by armored security guards that had seemingly emerged from nowhere. They were swiftly pinned to the floor with the guards' knees to their backs and handcuffed as Patterson walked in front of them, giving the guards a handful of orders which they could not quite hear. Evan and Joe looked at each other and, without warning, were brutally knocked unconscious by the butts of the guards' weapons.

Evan awoke in a cramped cell with no windows and no discernible entrance. The walls were padded, possibly sound-proof, and colored in a mixture of brown and beige that screamed rudimentary if nothing else. The only thing other than himself in the cell was a small, cylindrical silver canister attached to a wall receptacle which presumably contained water for him to drink. The ceiling was completely flat and featureless save for a small circle from which a dim, yellowish light flowed into the cubical space. Evan's hands were still handcuffed and placed behind his back. He looked around trying to find the door but it seemed as if the cell had been constructed around him, with no edges standing out, no handles, hinges, nothing. He could hear nothing except for the sound of his own breathing, greatly amplified compared to the sepulchral silence that surrounded him.

What in the world was Patterson up to? What was that creature? Why was he so paranoid about them having seen it? These questions circled in Evan's mind, answers nowhere to be found. He knew he was being held in the solitary confinement ward of the facility's detention center. He had never actually set foot in here before, only recognizing the cell's design from design schematics and floorplans he had seen during his first week working here. These cells were reserved only for extremely dangerous criminals or for quarantine purposes, yet he knew he was neither. Patterson wanted to keep knowledge of that thing hidden for whatever reason, so much so that he went so far as to completely isolate people whom he only had a sneaking suspicion of instead of absolute proof. There was no doubt in his mind that Patterson's creature was dangerous, perhaps to a degree that he did not fully grasp, yet he still questioned Patterson's motives.

Perhaps the creature was dangerous to the point that any reasonable individual would not allow it to live, explaining why Patterson would want to lock up unauthorized people who knew about it – simply so they would not interfere with whatever twisted experiments they decided to carry out with it. Evan did not know what they would do with him, or what they had done with Joe. Maybe he was in a similar cell as his, thinking about the same questions and being equally confused at Patterson's paranoid hostility.

Evan slowly stood up, noticing that his limbs felt numb and frail. How long had he been out? He felt groggy and his head began to spin as he stood, briefly losing his balance. He placed a hand on his forehead and noted that he was sweating profusely. He was dehydrated. He looked at the silver cylinder and thirst began to overcome him; however, his hands were cuffed behind his back, there was no way he could reach it. He sat back down and tried to pass his hands under his legs, struggling to stretch his arms enough to do so. He felt too weak to exert himself and gave up on his attempt, the cylindrical canister taunting him as he failed.

He tried again, he stretched his arms and curled his legs, desperately attempting to bring his hands in front of his body. The strain on his arms combined with his exhaustion sent searing pain throughout his frame. His arms gave out and Evan began panting as he attempted to recover. He must have been out for hours, maybe days. He had had nothing to eat or drink in all that time either, so they must have drugged him and thrown him in this cell without a moment's consideration to his resulting condition. He wondered if the guards with high-security clearance such as those that had subdued both him and Joe knew what Patterson was working on, or if they were just blindly following orders.

"God dammit…" He whispered under his breath, closing his eyes and gulping a new breath of air to prepare for another attempt at making his hands usable. "Here I go…"

His face tensed up as he stretched his arms again, bending his torso and bringing his thighs as close to his chest as he could. After a minute of struggling, he managed to pass his left leg through, his right leg quickly followed. He collapsed and let out a long, winded sigh of relief as he now had his hands to his front. He rolled and carefully began to stand up, lurching towards the canister. He tore it from its receptacle and began to twist open the lid, every fiber in his body hoping it was filled with the life-giving liquid he so desperately needed. Surely enough, the cylinder was half-filled with purified water which Evan briskly drank, emptying the canister.

He let the silver cylinder drop to the ground, the cool water satiated him and made him feel as if a fire had been put out in his throat. He wiped the accumulated sweat off his brow and sat back down, his eyelids soon began to droop and he began to feel fatigue start to wash over his body. He let out deeper and deeper breaths as his back began to press against the wall of the cell, numbness beginning to crawl up from his legs, to his stomach, to his chest and, eventually, to his head. Evan's eyes closed and his breaths became more distant and quiet, he was completely unconscious.


	8. Chapter 7 - The Dragon

**CHAPTER 7 – The Dragon**

 **"It was a dragon! feeds on minds. It was – nobody can stop it!"**

 **\- Golic, Inmate, Fiorina "Fury" 161**

* * *

The white coffee mug emblazoned with the yellow Weyland-Yutani logo spilled its contents as it tipped and turned in the air after being launched from the large, mahogany conference table, shattering on impact with the ground and sending small shards of porcelain careening through the meeting room carpet. Drs. Leonidovich and Nyilas grimaced in response to the sharp crash of the ceramic cup, concern weighed heavily on their eyes as they watched Patterson in his fit of rage.

"Fucking hell! Why were those security feeds not restricted to higher levels? I thought I made it perfectly clear that I wanted those cameras effectively inaccessible by anybody other than ourselves!" Patterson cupped his face in his hands and let out a frustrated breath. "Now we have two men who have seen the Xenomorph and will most likely spill out its existence to whoever the hell they encounter."

"Thomas, they're in custody now. Isolation ward to be exact – There's no risk of them saying anything to anyone." Nyilas said, placing her hand on Patterson's shoulder.

"I think it goes without saying that The Company won't like this… incident." Leonidovich said, "They explicitly directed us to keep this whole thing under wraps and classified to the highest level."

Patterson lightly brushed Nyilas' hand off, "I'm well aware of The Company, trust me." He placed both hands onto the smooth table and shifted his weight onto it, closing his eyes. "The problem is: what do we do with them now that they know? We can't simply eliminate them; Company policy forbids it."

"We keep them there until our research is complete. I think that's the best course of action." Nyilas suggested.

Leonidovich shook his head, "Rowland and Blau were well-liked by the rest of the security staff, they'll no doubt start to question why we've detained them. We are going to need a good excuse."

"I hope you both understand just how dangerous the lifeform we are dealing with truly is. This is a very sensitive situation; we cannot let people get too curious about it… for all our sakes." Patterson remarked.

Nyilas turned and began heading for the exit, "I'll take care of it Thomas, everything is still under control."

As he watched her leave, Patterson realized how long it had been since he had been in the creature's enclosure. It must have molted by now. Any thoughts about potential whistleblowers were pushed out of his mind. His sole concern now was to go and check on the specimen – his specimen. He knew there was a scheduled time for the scientists to check on it, but he wanted to take a look by himself. He told Leonidovich he was going to his quarters to rest, leaving the conference room.

He exited the room and immediately began to briskly walk towards the secure bio-research wing, clandestinely passing through security doors and getting ever closer to his destination. It was late at night so all members of staff were either asleep or congregating in other parts of the facility. Patterson went on uninterrupted until he reached the labs.

In the creature's room, the lights were dimmed throughout except for Ellison's chair, with no humans present in the observation area. The air was cold and damp with faint, intermittent wisps of chilled breeze from the air conditioning system. The prisoner's body was gone – all that remained were numerous pieces of torn fabric which softly moved to the breeze like autumn leaves. Dark-red blobs of semi-coagulated blood caked the seat, some smeared all over the floor. The unmistakable smell of death plagued the atmosphere, with a dramatic trail of the prisoner's bodily fluids leading from the base of the chair towards one of the corners of the room, disappearing into the darkness. The specimen's corner was completely blanketed in shadow: the only evidence of activity being the barely-perceptible yet distinct sounds of bone snapping and fracturing, and a mysterious glistening reflection that gently swayed in rhythm with the sounds.

The light in the observation area came on, slightly illuminating the creature's enclosure. The sounds stopped and silence filled the room as the specimen sensed that someone was near. The heavy blast-proof door leading into the observation area hissed as the pressurized air escaped through the newly-opened locks, allowing the door to slide upwards into the ceiling. Patterson stepped into the room, it had been several hours since he had last seen the Xenomorph, and thus, he had no idea what to expect. He knew the creature would have already molted into its adult form, yet he had only seen them in blurry images and imagined them based on vague descriptions from past experiments. The hairs on the back of his neck bristled as he approached the large window which peered into the darkness within the specimen's room.

Patterson leaned closely against the glass, his eyes scanning the pitch-blackness for any signs of movement. "I know you're in there… Come out and let me see you." He whispered.

A sharp clattering noise made itself into Patterson's ears – it came from within the enclosure. He turned his head left and right to find the source, his heart beginning to pound in his chest. He was filled with equal anxiety and anticipation, his breathing became shallower as he strained to hear the faintest sounds and pinpoint the Xenomorph's location. He pressed his face and hands closer against the window pane, every instinct telling him to run from the extraterrestrial threat that loomed only meters away.

He ignored his instincts, his curiosity overpowering his fear. He thought he saw a dark figure zoom past his field of view, a wind-like swoosh following it. He moved along the window to follow it. Patterson extended his index finger and began to lightly tap the window pane to attract the creature's attention.

A movement in his peripheral vision startled him, he turned to look at it and was met with a sight that made his heart sink. Bared, metallic teeth with glistening, drooping saliva set into an eyeless skull which somehow stared into his very being. The creature hung from the ceiling, looking directly at Patterson's astonished face. A low growl escaped through its fleshy lips, its long, razor-tipped tail hanging alongside it. Patterson took a step back, his knees buckling from fear.

Composing himself, he barely managed to say a few words, "Hello… Do you recognize me?"

The Xenomorph crawled onto the glass and dropped onto the floor, it's oblong head coming into full view. It tilted its head at Patterson, opening its jaws and extending its long, secondary mouth, a loud hiss chilling him to his bones.

He looked towards the now-empty chair where Ellison had birthed the creature, "I see you have eaten the prisoner. Incredible."

The Xenomorph began to pace back and forth along the window with slow, deliberate movements. The apparent grace of its movements hiding the deadly monster that lay within.

"You're magnificent." Patterson said as he intently watched the creature moving. He could not hope to understand it; this was a species beyond Humans as far as he was concerned. Its mind a mystery, its power overwhelming.

It pressed its own face close to the glass, separated from Patterson by a mere two inches. Its drool smeared onto the pane and began to slide down along its surface. He was completely frozen as he stood face-to-face with the creature. It raised its head and began to stand on its hind legs, its staggering height made Patterson begin to feel lightheaded. Its lengthy, segmented tail moved through the air behind it. As he tilted his head to look up to it, the Xenomorph roared at Patterson, making him suddenly cower in fear. Realizing what just happened, Patterson's face turned from terror to amusement as he began to laugh.

"Come on now, it will take much more than that to get rid of me." He stood up and walked up to the Xenomorph's face. "I am not afraid of you. You are an intelligent creature, I am certain we can come to friendly terms, in time."

The specimen began to step back into shadow, it's smooth dome reflecting Patterson's face back at him. With a low hiss, it disappeared into the darkness once more.

He was filled with happiness at his success in breeding this amazing creature, his face barely being able to contain his stupefaction. His mind struggled to process what he had just seen. A sudden realization hit him as he walked out of the observation room: The creature had not just eaten the prisoner; it had torn him free from the industrial-grade restraints. It was enormous, much larger than anyone anticipated, and with that kind of strength it could have easily broken through the glass that separated him from its jaws. He was now aware that he was, in fact, completely vulnerable while he stood in front of it.

Why had it not killed him? Did it recognize him? Patterson had just brushed shoulders with death itself and come out unscathed. The flood of emotions at this realization was too much for him, and Patterson passed out in the middle of the hallway outside of the observation room.


	9. Chapter 8 - The Habitat

**Note from the author:** Hello everyone! I apologize for the delayed update but I have been fairly busy recently, so I have been rather short on time with which to continue writing. But fear not, for here is chapter 8 of the story with much more to come later on! Also, to address a concern which several people have had regarding the story and the direction it will take: No, it will not go into any so-called "weird" aspects; you can rest assured that this story will be serious from start to finish and not involve any of those typical fan-fiction characteristics. In any case, hopefully you have enjoyed the story so far and please feel free to offer any feedback, it will always be appreciated!

* * *

 **CHAPTER 8 – The Habitat**

 **"I guess we're not going to be leaving now, right?"**

 **\- Newt, Colonist, Acheron LV-426**

* * *

Evan jolted awake and was met with the same, rudimentary, cramped cell walls which held him prisoner. A shiver ran down his neck as he briefly remembered the nightmare he had just woken from: an endless corridor, a blinding light in front of him, a massive, dark creature in hot pursuit.

The water canister was back in its wall receptacle, the room looked practically identical to the way it was when he first regained consciousness. All sense of time eluded him, he could have been in here for days as far as he was concerned. Evan looked at his handcuffed hands, forming tight fists before slowly releasing them in deep dejection. His stomach growled for food, yet its complaints landed on deaf ears as his mind grasped the severity of his situation. He was imprisoned by his own company simply because he had witnessed a twisted experiment. Who knew what The Company would do with his family back on Earth and with Joe's family on Luna. His future was ostensibly bleak, if not completely so.

A sound entered his ears, immediately catching his attention. It came from outside the cell, a thud of sorts, a crackle and then a hiss. Evan looked around but the sounds seemed to come from everywhere. He was suddenly knocked flat against the floor – he felt as if he was accelerating upwards. A few seconds later, as he attempted to regain his footing, his body was thrown into a wall, he was moving sideways now. The entire cell was being tossed around somehow, it jolted from side to side and forced Evan to struggle to keep his balance, he felt like a passenger on a runaway bus as the sudden accelerations affected his body. He clutched the paneling on the walls and held on as the cell continued to rock back and forth. As he thought it began to stabilize, he felt the cell begin to tip over. His heart began to sink as the sudden feeling of weightlessness began to permeate through him; he let out a loud scream as he and the cell fell, however it was cut short as a deafening crash and a great swell of smoke and dust knocked him out.

Evan's eyes slowly opened. His head spun as it felt like it was about to explode. He moved his arms, noticing that a broken piece of the cell wall had smashed the handcuff link apart, barely missing his right leg. A lukewarm sensation streaked above his right brow, he touched his forehead and saw his hand washed over in bright red blood. He felt lightheaded and dizzy beyond belief. He tried to stand but his knees buckled under his own weight, staggering him and sending him groping along the twisted walls of the cell.

The cell seemed to bury itself into something, the only opening was now above him, where the ceiling used to be. He grabbed onto an exposed metal bar and began to pull himself up towards it. The metal creaked under his weight as he grabbed onto another piece and continued to pull. He used the paneling on the walls as support for his feet, slowly climbing up to the top. He managed to get a hand outside, burying his fingers into the ground. What his senses told him left him confused: he felt grass and dirt. The planet they were on was desolate; it was a barren rock with hostile weather and an atmosphere that was just about breathable thanks to Weyland-Yutani's renowned atmospheric processors. The only discernible features on it aside from heavily eroded rock formations and craters were the main facility and its outlying spaceport several kilometers away.

Evan was still stunned from the thrashing he received in the cell, so he didn't trust what his fingers were feeling. He continued to pull himself up until his whole upper body was outside of the cell. His eyes were flooded with what seemed like sunlight, his face felt the warmth of sunlight, but his mind still didn't believe it was indeed sunlight. He managed to free himself completely from the cell – it looked like a strange, featureless, pill-shaped capsule, half-buried into what looked very convincingly like mud.

He managed to stand, finally regaining his balance. The glare from the sudden blanket of light prevented him from seeing farther than the capsule. He looked down around his feet, where he was met by an unexpected explosion of green. Thousands of lush blades of grass and scattered leaves, tiny bushes and weeds and a multitude of red, orange and violet flowers. It smelled wonderful – the scent of the dew on the grass, the fresh, earthy aroma of slightly moistened soil. His eyes began to adjust to the light; he looked around and saw dozens of trees: Barrigona palm trees, Huasaí palms, Kapok trees… He was in a small clearing within a veritable rainforest. He saw hundreds of small, multicolored bromeliads, tall vines and vibrant epiphytes which covered tree trunks like an exotic dress. The symphony of sound was overwhelming compared to the lugubriously silent corridors he spent hours patrolling in. Thousands of distinct bird calls and chirps harmonized through the air, the background hum of swarms of pollinating insects as they darted between the trees, the soothing rustling of the leaves in the breeze. He felt like he was standing on Earth, but he could not help but feel like he was hallucinating.

Until he looked up.

He tilted his head upwards and noticed a massive pattern of intermittent hexagons and pentagons which covered the sky. He followed them with his eyes, noticing how they curved downwards the farther they got from the "sun". One such hexagon was fairly close to him, mostly hidden behind the heavy vegetation. He could barely discern the humongous metallic struts which formed it, almost seeing how they met the ground. Taking one more look at the capsule he had just been in, he started off in the direction of the colossal hexagonal structure. It seemed to be only a couple hundred meters away, yet the unbelievably thick vegetation made progress slow.

He slapped and kicked against the giant ferns which blocked his way, occasionally swatting at the odd mosquito which decided he was the perfect afternoon snack. He maneuvered his legs between the crisscrossing roots and vines which lined the ground, being especially careful to not anger a bullet ant colony or come close to the 2-inch-long tarantula hawk wasps which buzzed around some of the trees. Evan had actually trained in the Amazon rainforest during his time with the Colonial Marines back on Earth. He was well aware of the dangers that lurked above, below and all around him; especially as he had seen the effects that insects like the bullet ant had on his squad mates. Some locals even called the ant _hormiga venticuatro_ , or the twenty-four ant, due to the whole day of intense pain that followed after a single bite.

He finally cleared the thick flora and reached the edge of the rainforest, standing directly in front of the massive hexagonal pylons. The metal beams held together a sky-colored wall which stretched as far as he could see in every direction. Something on the wall caught his eye however. He walked closer and noticed a large sign with the all-too-familiar yellow-on-black Weyland-Yutani logo plastered on it. Under it was another sign which read "BRD Environmental Simulation Habitat".

This was the bio-dome that he had heard so much buzz about from the scientists. He had no idea that they had actually built an entire isolated ecosystem and brought all these species from Earth. He thought this must have taken years to complete, far longer than he had been stationed on this facility. He had seen all the supplies being constantly delivered for a "big project", but he never got the clearance to see for himself what exactly it was they were building.

He was confused as to why his cell was suddenly thrust into the bio-dome and wondered if Joe had ended up somewhere in here as well. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a loud rumbling sound that came from far away.

It seemed to come from the dome's ceiling.

He tried to pinpoint the sound, looking all over until he saw a pill-shaped capsule emerge from a hatch near the top of the dome. It looked identical to his cell. The capsule deployed some kind of airbrake, slowing itself down marginally before crashing down into the forest several hundred meters away.

Evan took a wild guess and assumed that that cell had to have been Joe.

He began to walk in the general direction in which he saw the cell descending, his direction being confirmed from a loud, echoing crack presumably from the capsule hitting a large tree. Evan became convinced that him and possibly Joe being dropped into this bio-dome was not a coincidence. They had been intentionally released into this recreation of a rainforest for reasons unknown. Patterson was most likely to blame, probably to use them as another one of his experiments.

Evan began to notice the searing heat and steamy humidity which imbued every square inch of the bio-dome. He began to sweat profusely, prompting him to remove the top of his prisoner's attire and tie it around his waist. As he marched on he swore he could feel the temperature rising with every step he took. Looking up, he saw the brilliant "sun" and could almost see it growing brighter.

Without warning, the temperature plunged. Evan felt his skin crawl at the sudden change. He cursed under his breath and continued to trudge through the impossibly congested underbrush. A big, heavy, wet drop of water landed square on his forehead, startling him. He looked straight up, being met by a wall of rain which came crashing down onto him.

Now completely soaked in water, Evan began to run. He began to desperately look for some kind of shelter from the insane weather he was being subjected to. He found a decently sized rock formation which had a nice cave-like opening on one side. Evan quickly ducked inside, wiping off the water from his face. He got on his knees and slowly crawled up to the back wall of the opening, turning to sit and face the curtain of rain outside.

"Well fuck me."


	10. Chapter 9 - Ulterior Motives

**CHAPTER 9 – Ulterior Motives**

 **"It's an 8-foot creature of some kind, with acid for blood, and it arrived on your spaceship. It kills on sight, and is generally unpleasant. And of course, you expect me to accept this all on your word."**

 **\- Andrews, Warden, Fiorina "Fury" 161**

* * *

The computer monitor came alive, basking its immediate surroundings in a dim, red glow. A blinking cursor appeared in the top left corner, staying there for a few seconds. A line of text appeared: _ENyilas WYCore:~$ prisonerManager -trnsfr [11,12] 403_.

Another line appeared a few seconds after, with the third line appearing a few minutes later:

 _Prisoner transfer request 11 403 complete …_

 _Prisoner transfer request 12 403 complete …_

The cursor began to blink again and the monitor shut itself off, shrouding everything in darkness. The monitor was in a large room filled with computer terminals and seats facing a large, currently closed, window with two large screens on the sides. The room was highly reminiscent of a spaceport's control center. Each seat had the Weyland-Yutani logo displayed on the back, each terminal brand-new and untouched, a pile of clipboards lay on a large, oval, central table with a multitude of notes scribbled on their many pages.

A rotating yellow light turned on, a klaxon began to blare along with it. A loud clang sounded and the large window in the front of the room began to open, its blast-proof cover sliding upwards. The window gave way to a ray of light, illuminating the terminals, the keyboards, the seats and tables. Fine dust particulates suspended in the air diffracted the light, revealing their gentle dance in the air. The open window revealed a breathtakingly beautiful natural environment, the interior of a massive bio-dome separated into three parts: an enormous rainforest, a huge tropical archipelago and a rocky collection of valleys and plateaus.

Flocks of birds could be seen flying above the tree-lines – tiny dots forming large, flowing congregations which swayed with the air currents. Pods of dolphins could be seen breaching in the pearlescent blue waters around the archipelagic islands. Graceful waterfalls cascaded from the tops of plateaus to the bottom of valleys, forming long, winding rivers which fed directly into the rainforest. The Environmental Simulation Habitat, or ESH, as it was officially called, was a testbed for a revolutionary form of Weyland-Yutani terraforming technology, reaching unprecedented levels of habitability and beauty at a fraction of the time.

The system relied on the inherent ability of nature to propagate, planting key elements of a target ecosystem and allowing them to adapt and reconstruct their original habitat. Swarms of tiny nanobots suspended in the atmosphere would tinker and fix each individual organism at the cellular level to match the specs that were fed into the system. This ensured that everything reached peak health and was able to spread faster than otherwise possible. Once the ecosystem reached a certain level of stability, a new species was introduced and the cycle would repeat. By the time the process was completed, the nanobots would remain in stand-by in case of an emergency, but the ecosystem would be, in essence, completely self-sustaining, as was the case in the ESH.

The lights in the control room turned on.

The main door parted and a tall, slender woman in her mid-thirties walked in. She was flanked by two assistants who passed her and sat down at computer terminals in opposing sides of the room. She walked up to the oval table, placing her hands on it. Her steely blue eyes glared through the window at the paradise below. She passed her hand through her black hair, brushing it behind her shoulder. Taking one of the dozens of clipboards on the table, she began to walk around the central terminals and towards the observation deck, directly next to the window.

"Doctor Nyilas, the mainframe reports the two prisoner transfers you requested were completed." One of the assistants said.

"Sensors report both are alive and in good condition. They are separated by, uh… around three-hundred meters." The other added immediately after.

Nyilas turned and walked behind the first assistant, leaning in next to his ear. "Make sure all these logs are deleted. I want no official record of their presence in the Habitat." She said in a soft yet threatening tone.

"Yes ma'am."

The intercom system crackled into life, "Drs. Nyilas and Leonidovich, please report to the bio-research conference room. Drs. Nyilas and Leonidovich to the bio-research conference room."

Nyilas cocked her head slightly, closing her eyes and releasing a barely audible sigh. "Continue to monitor them, contact me personally if anything happens. I'll be back." She placed the clipboard back onto the table and walked out of the control room. The door locked, leaving the two assistants diligently watching over the two subjects they had placed inside the ESH.

"You found him where?" Leonidovich asked the orderly in the conference room, his eyebrows raised.

"I already told you Sir, we found Dr. Patterson slumped on the ground in front of Specimen Rho's observation lab. He was out cold so we took him to his quarters to recover. He woke up a few moments after we got there and he practically shoved us out." The orderly answered, his hands raised in bewilderment.

Leonidovich squinted his eyes, "well, did you ask him what happened?"

"Thing is Sir… we tried to ask him, but, uh… he just insulted us and kicked us out."

"Typical." Leonidovich said, cupping his face.

Three beeps sounded in quick succession, followed by the soft hiss of the door sliding open. Leonidovich and the orderly turned to see Dr. Nyilas walking in, her face was calm and collected, expecting nothing.

She raised an eyebrow, "did I miss anything?"

Leonidovich gestured towards a chair, offering for her to take a seat. "Guess who they found unconscious in front of Specimen Rho's enclosure?"

Nyilas sat down, her expression now one of concerned curiosity. "Who?"

"Patterson."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Nyilas was genuinely concerned. What could possibly have happened to Patterson? Was the creature loose?

"Is he ok?" She asked.

The orderly turned towards her, "Yes he's fine, but he's not in much of a talkative mood."

Leonidovich knew that Nyilas wanted to talk to Patterson and find out what happened. He, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with it. Patterson was frankly a pain the ass and it wouldn't be the end of the world if he was out of action for a good while. Leonidovich had known Patterson for years, and in all that time they still didn't see each other as friends. Patterson tended to be very obsessive and overbearing with regards to anything ranging from a simple discussion to things such as Specimen Rho. He wouldn't be surprised if Patterson had violated basic quarantine and containment procedures just to get a closer look at the creature.

Nyilas was a different story.

Leonidovich could never figure out her motives. She seemed to care for Patterson in a way, yet she sometimes seemed detached from everything except for her work. She was calculating, efficient and mysterious. Conversations with her would lead nowhere as she always deflected personal questions yet always seemed to peer into one's very being. Nyilas was all business and no games for the most part, but sometimes she would show an almost naïve side of herself – like a curious child when faced with the unknown. No matter how hard he tried, Leonidovich could never truly understand the dynamic between her and Patterson. How she could stand him, how he respected her, how–

"Anton?" Nyilas said, concerned.

"Hmm?... Oh… what is it?" Leonidovich replied.

"I said we need to go see Thomas, it's not normal for somebody to just drop unconscious in the middle of a corridor."

"Fine, lead the way."

Nyilas turned from concern to sporting a fulfilled smile. She walked out of the conference room, turning towards the residential area. Leonidovich followed closely behind. Her heels made sharp clicking noises on the green, reflective flooring. The sounds filled him with uneasiness, he could not help but feel that Nyilas was up to something. He pushed the thought aside and continued to walk behind her.

"Has someone checked on Rho? Is it still in its enclosure?" Nyilas asked.

"Yes everything's all right. The enclosure is in good condition and there's nothing to suggest Rho has done anything out of the ordinary." Leonidovich replied.

Nyilas gave a brief nod and continued to walk. They reached Patterson's quarters and rang the bell. No answer.

"Allow me." Leonidovich walked up to the panel next to the door and input a series of numbers. The door let out a sustained beep and opened. Nyilas looked at Leonidovich with surprise. "Security override, pretty useful for situations like this." He said.

They entered the quarters but saw no sign of Patterson. There were papers strewn across the floor with several filing cabinets completely emptied. Pens and binders were scattered on his desk, the seat covered in fragments of copy paper.

Leonidovich looked at the papers and picked up one of the binders. "Jesus, what a mess."

They heard the sound of paper being ripped, it came from Patterson's bedroom. Nyilas walked towards the door and opened it, peering inside. Patterson was sitting on the floor against his bed, clutching a pile of notes emblazoned with the Greek letter Rho.

"Thomas, what happened?" Nyilas asked, kneeling next to Patterson.

Patterson looked at her dead in the eyes, his face full of an inexplicable amount of joy. "We had no idea Elizabeth. No idea." He said, shaking his head.

"No idea about what?"

"Everything."

Leonidovich walked in, his eyes squinting in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Patterson raised his eyes to look at Leonidovich and smiled. "Rho is so much more than we could have hoped for. The ultimate predator. Uncompromising, perfect." He bolted upright and put on his glasses. "I have to go see it again."

He began to make for the door but was stopped by Leonidovich. "You're not going anywhere right now Thomas." He closed the door. "What exactly happened to you?"

"Nothing, nothing. Just let me go check up on it."

Nyilas grabbed Patterson's arm. "What happened Thomas? You were found unconscious outside the lab, something must have happened."

Patterson began to get angry. "Nothing happened! Ok? I'm fine! I just want to look at the damn specimen!"

"All right, then let's all go and check up on it." Nyilas said.

"No! I mean… I… I need to go alone."

Leonidovich cocked an eyebrow. "Alone? Did you go into its enclosure Thomas?"

"Of course not! Please, just let me see it." He turned towards Nyilas, his tone anxious and terrified. "You cannot possibly understand it. Rho is beyond anything we have ever seen before. It is the perfect organism! Studying it will do us no good, keeping it in a cage will do us no good. It could have killed me but it just looked at me. It was studying _me_!"

Nyilas looked at Patterson and saw a man who had confronted death itself. He was shaking at the thought of Specimen Rho, yet he was captivated by its apparent magnificence. She could not hope to ever know what exactly Patterson did with the creature, but she could not allow him to take it any further. She liked Patterson, yet she knew that he would hinder the research with his obsession over the specimen. Patterson needed to be dealt with somehow. Nyilas saw Patterson vividly describing the creature to Leonidovich, his eyes darting back and forth in fascination and his hands trembling in shock.

"Thomas?" She asked.

"What?"

His eyes met hers. Nyilas would have liked another option, but as far as she saw it, this was the only way.

"The ESH is ready, perhaps you would like to take a look?"


End file.
